Human History

Archeological evidence shows that Native Americans have inhabited the Glacier National Park area for around 10,000 years.

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Human History Details

Archeological evidence shows that Native Americans have inhabited the Glacier National Park area for around 10,000 years. Current tribes, such as the Salish, Flathead, Shoshone and Cheyenne, can trace their lineage to the area's earliest residents; the Blackfeet arrived near the beginning of the 18th century, and soon dominated what would become the eastern slopes of the park, as well as the Great Plains to the east. The region offered abundant game, and the mountains provided shelter from the harsh winter winds of the plains. Today, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation borders the park on the east, while the Flathead Indian Reservation sits west and south of the park. When the Blackfeet Reservation was first established in 1855, it included the eastern area of the current park up to the Continental Divide. The mountains in this area, especially Chief Mountain and the region in the southeast at Two Medicine, were considered the "Backbone of the World" by the Blackfeet. In 1895, Chief White Calf of the Blackfeet sold some 800,000 acres of the mountain area to the U.S. government for $1.5 million, with the understanding that the tribe would maintain usage rights for hunting as long as it remained public land of the United States. This sale established today's boundary between the park and the reservation. Some of the earliest western explorers in the area were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who came within 50 miles of what is now the park while exploring the Marias River in 1806. A series of explorations after 1850 led to further understanding of the area that later became the park. In 1885, George Bird Grinnell hired noted explorer (and later, author) James Willard Schultz to guide him on a hunting expedition into what would later become Glacier. After several more trips to the region, Grinnell became so inspired by its scenery that he spent the next two decades working to establish a national park. In 1901, Grinnell described the region as the "Crown of the Continent," and his efforts to protect the land make him the premier contributor to Glacier's establishment as a national park.

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